Sunday, March 31, 2013

ELY, Nev. – An eastern Nevada wind farm could face a fine of up to $200,000 over the death of a golden eagle.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the bird's death
at the Spring Valley Wind Farm near the Utah border, 350 miles east of
Reno, spokesman Jeannie Stafford said.

San Francisco-based Pattern Energy, owner of the 152-megawatt wind
energy project that sells power to Las Vegas-based NV Energy, turned
over the dead eagle to federal authorities within 36 hours of its
discovery in February.

Despite reporting the death, the wind farm could face a fine because
it does not hold a federal "take" permit that would allow the incidental
death of a golden or bald eagle... Keep on reading...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday blasted Democratic efforts to
pass new gun control laws, vowing that a bill Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to bring to the floor next month was “going
nowhere.”

Graham singled out universal background checks as the
reason he and other Republicans would vote against or filibuster the
legislation. Graham argued that existing laws on background checks
should be enforced before those laws are expanded.

Christians across the nation are outraged after Google
decided to honor labor leader Cesar Chavez’s birthday instead of Jesus
Christ on Easter Sunday — accusing the web giant of being
anti-Christian.

The web search engine typically redesigns its logo to commemorate
major holidays with a special “doodle.” The Easter Sunday “doodle”
features an image of Chavez inside the Google graphic — instead of
artwork honoring Easter.

President Obama watched some Elite Eight hoops at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

The president, fresh off a round of golf, was in attendance as
Syracuse and Marquette battled to become the first Final Four team in
this year’s NCAA college basketball tournament, according to pool
reports.

The president was flashed on the big screen at the stadium and
greeted with loud applause. Obama, sitting next to his former body man
Reggie Love, smiled and waved.
The president didn’t pick either team to make it this far in the
tournament. In his East Region bracket, Obama picked Indiana and Miami,
both of whom were ousted from the tournament on Thursday.

A New York judge has tossed out a lawsuit seeking to stop the display
of a cross-shaped steel beam found among the World Trade Center’s
wreckage.

Federal judge Deborah Batts on Friday rejected the arguments of a national atheists’ group.

American Atheists had sued the National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s operators in 2011 on constitutional grounds.

The judge says the decision to include the artifact in the Sept. 11
museum did not advance religion impermissibly. She also says it does not
create excessive entanglement between the state and religion. And she
noted that the cross helps tell part of the history

The reaction to the 2003 heatwave was extraordinary. It was blamed for 2,000
deaths, and taken as a warning that Britain was horribly unprepared for the
coming era of snowless winters and barbecue summers. The government’s chief
scientific officer, Sir David King, later declared that climate change was
“more serious even than the threat of terrorism” in terms of the number of
lives that could be lost. Such language is never used about the cold, which
kills at least 10 times as many people every winter. Before long, every
political party had signed up to the green agenda.

Since Sir David’s exhortations, some 250,000 Brits have died from the cold,
and 10,000 from the heat. It is horribly clear that we have been focusing on
the wrong enemy. Instead of making sure energy was affordable, ministers
have been trying to make it more expensive, with carbon price floors and
emissions trading schemes. Fuel prices have doubled over seven years,
forcing millions to choose between heat and food – and government has found
itself a major part of the problem. More here...

ABC News tried all day yesterday to get an answer out of the White
House and Secret Service about how much money will be saved by canceling
White House tours. Now we have an answer: $74,000 per week, according
to Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan.

Here’s how they do the math:

The Secret Service says it takes an average of 37 officers to secure
the tours. Each officer’s total pay (including benefits) averages $50 an
hour. And, although the tours only are only open for 20 ½ hours per
week, Donovan says the officers are on the clock for 40 hours. So – 37
officers at $50 an hour for 40 hours a week adds up to $74,000.

"Due to sequestration, Uniformed Division Officers normally assigned to
conducting public tours will be reassigned to other security posts at
the White House and all tours will be cancelled," spokesman Max Milien
said in a statement.

New York’s big government — with its hands deep in
taxpayers’ pockets and regulations controlling everyone’s lives — has
made the Empire State the worst in the nation for personal liberty, a
new study shows.

A war on sugary drinks is the least of freedom-loving New Yorkers’
worries, according a report by George Mason University, which rated the
state No. 50 for the level of freedom its residents enjoy.

The university found New York’s government slams citizens from every
angle — from huge taxes to tight controls on business to myriad rules on
all kinds of fun.

“New York has, by a wide margin, the highest taxes in the country,” the report found.
The study cited New York state’s 14 percent income tax, well above the national average.
New York is also the most indebted state, with 33 percent of income dedicated to borrowing in fiscal year 2010, the report said.

DEBATE about the reality of a
two-decade pause in global warming and what it means has made its way
from the sceptical fringe to the mainstream.
In a lengthy article this week, The Economist magazine said if
climate scientists were credit-rating agencies, then climate sensitivity
- the way climate reacts to changes in carbon-dioxide levels - would be
on negative watch but not yet downgraded.

Another paper
published by leading climate scientist James Hansen, the head of NASA's
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, says the lower than expected
temperature rise between 2000 and the present could be explained by
increased emissions from burning coal.

For Hansen the pause is a fact, but it's good news that probably won't last.

International
Panel on Climate Change chairman Rajendra Pachauri recently told The
Weekend Australian the hiatus would have to last 30 to 40 years "at
least" to break the long-term warming trend.

But the fact that global surface temperatures have not followed the expected global warming pattern is now widely accepted.

Research
by Ed Hawkins of University of Reading shows surface temperatures since
2005 are already at the low end of the range projections derived from
20 climate models and if they remain flat, they will fall outside the
models' range within a few years.

"The global temperature
standstill shows that climate models are diverging from observations,"
says David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Keep on reading...

An incident that reportedly led a TSA agent to accidentally shoot
five fellow employees with pepper spray left Kennedy International
Airport with mud in its eye.

According to the New York Post,
the stinging substance that is meant to be aimed at the face, and can
cause major eye irritation, sent all six airport security screeners to
the hospital.
The Post reports:

The agent, Chris Yves Dabel, discovered the device at the Terminal 2
security checkpoint and tried to determine if it was real, a source told
The Post.

He told Port Authority cops that he “found the canister on the floor and thought it was a laser pointer.”

“They were playing around with it,” said one Kennedy Airport official.

UPDATE: The White House has confirmed the
report was removed on their request. From Kristina Schake,
Communications Director to the First Lady:

From the beginning of the administration, the White House
has asked news outlets not to report on or photograph the Obama children
when they are not with their parents and there is no vital news
interest. We have reminded outlets of this request in order to protect
the privacy and security of these girls.

It's good to be the daughters of the King. The school kids who wanted to tour the White House on their spring break are hardest hit.

Florida legislators considering a bill to require abortionists to
provide medical care to an infant who survives an abortion were shocked
during a committee hearing this week when a Planned Parenthood official endorsed a right to post-birth abortion.

Alisa LaPolt Snow, the lobbyist representing the Florida Alliance of
Planned Parenthood Affiliates, testified that her organization believes
the decision to kill an infant who survives a failed abortion should be
left up to the woman seeking an abortion and her abortion doctor.

North Korea has revealed its plans to strike targets in
Hawaii and the continental United States in photos taken in Kim
Jong-un’s military command centre.

The photos appeared in the state-run Rodong newspaper and were
apparently taken at an “emergency meeting” early on Friday morning. They
show Kim signing the order for North Korea’s strategic rocket forces to
be on standby to fire at US targets, the paper said, with large-scale
maps and diagrams in the background.

The images show a chart marked “US mainland strike plan” and missile
trajectories that the NK News web site estimates terminate in Hawaii,
Washington DC, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.

The meeting of the Pyongyang’s senior military leaders was called
after two US B2 bombers, flying out of bases in Missouri, carried out
simulated bombing raids on North Korean targets on an island off the
coast of South Korea.

Build up to WW3 - NORTH KOREA Ready to ATTACK the U.S. Will They Really ST

Americans continue to believe that too many of their
fellow citizens are financially dependent on the government, but they’re
less critical of programs to help the poor.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of
American Adults think there are too many Americans dependent on the
government for financial aid. Only eight percent (8%) believe not enough
Americans are dependent on this aid, while 17% feel the level of
dependency is about right. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes
Philip Kent — chairman and chief executive officer of the Turner
Broadcasting System, which owns the Cable News Network – who says that
CNN “is a serious news network” that viewers would appreciate more if
they would watch the channel “more critically.”

Kent made the laughable comments during an interview published in
this week’s edition of Broadcasting and Cable magazine, when he admitted
that the “biggest misconception about CNN is that it’s a liberal news network,” which “drives me crazy” because “it’s not.”

During the cover story
by Andrea Morabito, the magazine’s programming editor, Kent said new
CNN president Jeff Zucker agreed that changes to boost the audience of
the low-rated channel will not be “done overnight, not short-term. He
and I both know this is a marathon, not a sprint.”

According to a new Pew Research poll,
a majority of Americans, 55 percent, oppose granting citizenship to
immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. An even bigger majority,
however, 71 percent, believe illegal immigrants should be allowed to
stay in the country legally.

Perhaps most surprisingly, no demographic is more supportive of
granting citizenship to illegal immigrants than blacks. In fact, at 52
percent, blacks are the only demographic of which a majority supports
granting illegal immigrants citizenship. Only 49 percent of Hispanics,
48 percent of Democrats, and 47 percent of college graduates back
citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Republican, 38 percent, and whites without a college degree, also 38
percent, are the least supportive of citizenship benefits for illegal
immigrants.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg opened a new front in his
antismoking campaign last week when he proposed new legislation that
would require stores to keep tobacco products out of sight, making New
York the first city in the nation to do so.

Its companion bill, however, has the potential to be just as
groundbreaking, experts on tobacco control said. Along with
strengthening the penalties on retailers that evade tobacco taxes, the
second bill establishes a minimum price for cigarettes and cigarillos,
or little cigars, of $10.50 a pack, the first time such a strategy has
been used to combat smoking. The bill also prohibits retailers from
redeeming coupons or offering other discounts, like two-for-one deals.

“This is kind of a landmark set of proposals here,” said Kurt Ribisl,
a professor of public health at the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, whose research on tobacco control influenced Mr.
Bloomberg’s proposal. “For someone like me, who’s spent 18 years
studying point-of-sale issues, this is kind of big.”

In an honest world, there wouldn't be any correlation between unemployment and Social Security disability applications. A bad labor market makes it hard to find a job. It doesn't make people unable to work physically or mentally.

If you have been following the Internet crackdown underway in Russia,
you will not be surprised to learn that Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin has
recruited many websites — which are either terrified of his wrath or
interested in currying his favor — to help crush and eradicate criticism
of his government online.

However, you may be surprised to learn that one of those websites is Twitter.

The Moscow Times reported
last week that — according to the Kremlin itself — for the past several
weeks Twitter has been blocking Russian access to any tweets designated
by the Kremlin as “extremist.” Twitter has also deleted at least one
user account at the Kremlin’s request.
On its applicable agency website (known by its acronym Roskomnadzor),
the Kremlin praises Twitter’s management team for its “constructive
position” in reconfiguring its website in a manner “acceptable to
Russian side.”

. . . “We believe that weapons of war have no place on
our streets. That’s the message that retired admirals and generals have
spoken to us about. The comment one of them used was if you want to
learn how to use a semiautomatic weapon, join the United States
Military. But these are weapons of war,” Mr. Biden said.

“We believe there’s no rational reason why someone would need a clip
that can hold 15, 20, 30, 100 bullets, 100 rounds,” he continued. “We
have to do more, and we will do more.”

(CNSNews.com) – The National Science Foundation awarded a grant
for $876,752 to the University of Iowa to study whether there is any
benefit to sex among New Zealand mud snails and whether that explains
why any organism has sex.

The study, first funded in 2011 and continuing until 2015, will study
the New Zealand snails to see if it is better that they reproduce
sexually or asexually – the snail can do both – hoping to gain insight
on why so many organisms practice sexual reproduction.
“Sexual reproduction is more costly than asexual reproduction, yet
nearly all organisms reproduce sexually at least some of the time. Why
is sexual reproduction so common despite its costs,” the study’s
abstract asks.

The Supreme Court’s conservative justices on Wednesday
were sharply critical of President Obama’s approach to a federal law on
same-sex marriage.

Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder decided in 2011 that the
federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. They quit defending
it in the courts, but directed federal agencies to continue to comply
with the law.

Conservatives on the Supreme Court criticized that approach Wednesday during oral arguments over whether DOMA is constitutional.

“I don’t see why he doesn’t have the courage of his convictions,”
Chief Justice John Roberts said of Obama’s decision to continue
following the law, even though he believes it is unconstitutional.

Justice Antonin Scalia said the legal system appears to be “living in
this brave new world” in which the Justice Department can simply opt
out of its traditional responsibility to defend federal laws in the
courts.

He questioned who has the power to decide the government will not defend a particular law.

“It’s only when the president thinks its unconstitutional?” Scalia
asked. “Or could the attorney general, or the solicitor general, impose
the same determination?”

Some people purchasing new insurance policies for
themselves this fall could see premiums rise because of requirements in
the health-care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius told reporters Tuesday.

Ms. Sebelius’s remarks come weeks before insurers are expected to
begin releasing rates for plans that start on Jan. 1, 2014, when key
provisions of the health law kick in.

Premiums have been a sensitive
subject for the Obama administration, which is counting on elements in
the health law designed to increase competition among insurers to keep
rates in check. The administration has pointed to subsidies that will be
available for many lower-income Americans to help them with the cost of
coverage.

The secretary’s remarks are among the first direct statements from
federal officials that people who have skimpy health plans right now
could face higher premiums for plans that are more generous. She noted
that the law requires plans to provide better benefits and treat all
customers equally regardless of their medical claims.

“These folks will be moving into a really fully insured product for
the first time, and so there may be a higher cost associated with
getting into that market,” she said. “But we feel pretty strongly that
with subsidies available to a lot of that population that they are
really going to see much better benefit for the money that they’re
spending.”...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Richmond, Va. (AP) — Virginia law will require all voters to have photo IDs beginning next year.

Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a bill Tuesday that his fellow Republicans
said was a safeguard against voter fraud. Democrats bitterly denounced
the legislation as a Jim Crow-era tactic to suppress the votes of the
elderly, minorities and the underprivileged.
The legislation provides for a free valid ID with the bearer’s photo to any registered voter who lacks one.

Along with signing the legislation, McDonnell issued an executive
order directing the State Board of Elections to start a public education
program to tell voters about the new requirement before the 2014
congressional and U.S. Senate elections.

Just over half of U.S. voters now say the March 1
sequester cuts in the growth of federal government spending have had no
impact on their lives.

Only 12% say the sequester cuts have had a major impact on them
personally. Despite predictions that the sequester impact would grow
over time, there’s no indication of that happening yet. The number
experiencing a major impact is basically unchanged from the weekend the
sequester first took effect.

The city of Riverside is pulling its pledge of
$100,000 toward the $1 million reward offered during the manhunt for
rogue ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner.

Dorner died in an apparent suicide during a standoff with authorities and cabin burning near Big Bear last month.

Because the Riverside City Council
resolution stipulated the money was for information leading to Dorner’s
arrest and conviction, the city will withdraw its pledge because neither
condition was met, Riverside city spokeswoman Cindie Perry told NBCLA.

Riverside police officer Michael Crain was among four people killed by Dorner.

Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are threatening to
filibuster gun-control legislation, according to a letter they plan to
hand-deliver to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office on Tuesday.

“We will oppose the motion to proceed to any legislation that will
serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions,” the three
conservatives wrote in a copy of the signed letter obtained by POLITICO.

Reid plans to bring up a gun-control measure that focuses on
broadening background checks and cracking down on interstate
gun-trafficking after the current Senate recess.
Conservatives are concerned that once that bill reaches the floor, amendments could stiffen restrictions on gun control.

Moreover, they understand that Reid intends to allow liberal
amendments that would limit clip capacity and ban certain assault
weapons to be offered — even though they would be defeated — to give
Democrats a chance to vote on them. For moderate Democrats in
competitive states, that amounts to an opportunity to vote no and show
allegiance to gun rights.

Mike Bloomberg is spending $12 million on attack ads
designed to force U.S. senators to vote for national gun control laws
that will supposedly save lives. However, the New York mayor’s
commercials running in 13 states over the next two weeks could cause
injury or death by showcasing irresponsible handling of a firearm.

Mr. Bloomberg’s organization, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, produced
two ads featuring a man holding a shotgun, wearing plaid flannel with a
camouflage cap and sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck. While a
child swings on a tire in the background, the man says, “I support
comprehensive background checks so criminals and the dangerously
mentally ill can’t buy guns.”

The ad does not specify if the man is an actor, but he violates all
three gun safety rules taught by the National Rifle Association (NRA). (Click here to see the ads.)
The first rule is to always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
In this case, the children are playing in the yard. Although the
viewers can’t see what is to the side of the truck, the man should be
pointing the muzzle in the air or at the ground.

The second NRA rule is always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.

The hotel was $585,000. The limo service was another $321,665. Geez...

(CNN) – If you think Paris is expensive, the City of Light costs a lot more when you’re traveling with the vice president.

Recent documents posted to a government website give a rare glimpse of Vice President Joe Biden’s overseas travel expenses.

Official business took him last month to Europe, a trip that included a bill of $585,000 for his one-night stay in Paris.

Also on the receipt was $321,665 for a limousine company and $459,338.65 for a hotel stay in London.

And while Biden was only in each town for one night, the London hotel
bill, for example, included 136 rooms for multiple nights for his
advance team, according to the documents posted on the website for Federal Business Opportunities and unearthed by the conservative magazine, The Weekly Standard.

Whether or not the figures were posted online intentionally remain
unclear, as similar reports for previous overseas trips could not be
located on the same website.

President Obama’s Energy secretary nominee regards a
carbon tax as one of the simplest ways to move the energy industry
towards clean technologies, though he notes that government would have
to come up with a plan to mitigate the burden this tax places on poor
people, who would pay the most.

“Ultimately, it has to be cheaper to capture and store it than to
release it and pay a price,” MIT professor and Energy nominee Ernest
Moniztold the Switch Energy Project in an interview last year. “If we
start really squeezing down on carbon dioxide over the next few decades,
well, that could double; it could eventually triple. I think inevitably
if we squeeze down on carbon, we squeeze up on the cost, it brings
along with it a push toward efficiency; it brings along with it a push
towards clean technologies in a conventional pollution sense; it brings
along with it a push towards security. Because after all, the security
issues revolve around carbon bearing fuels.”

The 61-page online Obamacare draft application for health
care includes asking if the applicant wants to register to vote,
raising the specter that pro-Obama groups being tapped to help Americans
sign up for the program will also steer them to register with the
Democratic Party.

On page 59, after numerous questions about the applicant’s identity
and qualification for Obamacare, comes the question: “Would you like to
register to vote?” The placement of the question could lead some to
believe they have to register to vote to get health care.

In the introduction of the document,
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services declare: “This
document-the ‘questionnaire’-represents each possible item that may need
to be asked for successful eligibility determinations.”

The question of marriage equality is a great American
debate. Many people, some with strong religious faith, believe that
marriage can only exist between a man and a woman. Other people, many of
whom also have strong religious faith, believe that our country should
not limit the commitment of marriage to some, but rather all Americans,
gay and straight should be allowed to fully participate in the most
basic of family values.

I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit
the right to marry based on who you love. While churches should never be
required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs,
neither should the government tell people who they have a right to
marry.

(Portland, Oregon)
– An Oregon high school teacher was escorted from the building by
police this week over what is believed to be related to his continued
opposition to Planned Parenthood’s presence in the classroom.

Bill Diss is a math and computer science teacher at Benson High
School in Portland, and has taught at the school for 11 years. Diss has
also become known in the school for his opposition to Planned Parenthood
since 2007, when he first began organizing efforts during after-school
hours to stop the furtherance of the abortion provider in the community.

“I certainly fight Planned Parenthood, which I certainly have a right
to do,” he told reporters this week following the incident. “And that
was all on the outside, until [last] year when they brought Planned
Parenthood [into the school].”

According to reports, last year, Planned Parenthood of Columbia
Williamette began promoting its Teen Outreach Program (TOP) at Benson
High School where Diss is employed as a teacher. In September, two
representatives from the organization showed up at Diss’ classroom as
they were hoping to speak to students. However, he would not let the
representatives enter and asked them to leave.

The money provided annually to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
through the Interior Department and the Department of Health and Human
Services has risen over the last five years to more than $4.5 million,
according to documents obtained by The Associated Press through the
Freedom of Information Act. One former tribal employee says department
leaders were encouraged to offset dwindling resources by seeking more
federal grants.

The Pequots, who once distributed stipends exceeding $100,000 annually
to adult members, are not alone among gaming tribes seeking more federal
aid. Several, including the owner of Foxwoods' rival Connecticut
casino, the Mohegan Sun, say they have been pursuing more grants — a
trend that critics find galling because the law that gave rise to Indian
casinos was intended to help tribes become financially self-sufficient.

The sources said that President Assad was transferred to Shami
Hospital in Damascus, suffering from wounds and described it as very
serious, and he is fighting for his life there, while the Syrian army
has closed all roads leading to the hospital. Even the meantime
there has been no official statement by the system, while sources close
to him denied what was in the news altogether, noting that the president
was in good health and high spirits, and will deliver a keynote speech
in the coming days.

The researchers conclude that having a Tea Party protest on Tax Day,
April 15, in 2009 increased the number of Republican votes in that area
for the 2010 midterm elections and caused their representatives to vote
more conservatively.

In fact, they estimate that the protests led to an additional:
25,000 to 46,000 local Tea Party organizers
170,000 to 310,000 protesters on Tax Day 2010
$840,000 to $1.54 million in donations to Our Country Deserves Better PAC3.2 to 5.8 million votes in the 2010 House elections

Vice President Biden has been flying home to Wilmington, Delaware
most weekends at enormous expense to taxpayers, even though he has an
exclusive government-provided residence in Washington.

Biden himself acknowledged the flights
during recent remarks to the National Association of Attorneys General,
noting that the sequester would force him to temporarily alter his
expensive habit and use the train instead.

According to reports, Biden generally uses Air Force Two to get to Wilmington.
The cost of flying Air Force Two, a military version of the Boeing
757-200, amounts to about $8,800 per hour, according to the most recent
federal data.

The United States has quietly unblocked almost
$500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority which had been frozen
by Congress for months, a top US official said Friday.

The news that the funds had finally been freed up came after US
President Barack Obama met top Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a
landmark visit to Israel and the West Bank earlier this week.

“To date, we have moved $295.7 million in fiscal year 2012 money… and
$200 million in fiscal year 2013 assistance,” State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

The Obama administration also notified Congress in late February that
it was seeking a further $200 million to fund US Agency for
International Development (USAID) programs for the Palestinians, she
said. [...]

“Three years ago today, I signed into law the principle
that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one should go broke just
because they get sick. The Affordable Care Act will give hard-working,
middle class families the health care security they deserve and protect
every American from the worst insurance company abuses. Already,
millions of seniors are saving $600 a year on their prescription drugs.
Millions of young people have been able to stay on their family’s health
plan until age 26. Preventive care, like mammograms for women and
wellness visits for seniors, is covered free of charge. Most
importantly, for the sake of our fiscal future, the growth of health
care costs is beginning to slow. In fact, last year, Medicaid costs fell
for the first time in decades.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies will no
longer have unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny you coverage, or
charge women more than men. And soon, no American will ever again be
denied care or charged more due to a pre-existing condition, like cancer
or even asthma.

Later this year, millions of Americans will finally have the
opportunity to buy the same kind of health care Members of Congress give
themselves. Beginning in October, you’ll be able to sign up for new
private health care plans through a new health insurance marketplace
where private plans will compete to save middle class families money.

Through these marketplaces, Americans and small business owners will be
able to choose from a menu of health plans that fit their budget and
provide quality coverage they can count on when they need it most. If
you like the plan you have, you can keep it. If you cannot afford a
plan, you or your small business may get financial assistance to make it
affordable.”

he Senate’s bipartisan immigration working group split
along party lines during a contentious budget vote to prevent illegal
immigrants who receive legal status from receiving federal health
benefits.

The Senate early Saturday morning defeated the amendment to the
budget resolution which would have put the Senate on record as opposing
access to health care under Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act for
undocumented immigrants who get a green card.

The amendment, which failed 43 to 56, was offered by Senate Budget ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

All Democrats — including gang members Dick Durbin of Illinois, Bob
Menendez of New Jersey, Charles E. Schumer of New York and Michael
Bennet of Colorado — opposed the amendment. They were joined by Sen.
Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. All other
Republicans — including immigration negotiators Marco Rubio of Florida,
John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake
of Arizona — supported the amendment.

When Governor Andrew Cuomo quickly passed tough new gun
control measures in January, he faced a raft of criticism for skipping
the standard deliberative period and allegedly ignoring the more minute
legislative details. The criticism recently found new substance with the
bill’s apparently unworkable 7-bullet magazine requirement, which
Albany is now working to reverse. And, on his weekly radio show with
John Gambling, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that “one criticism” may
indeed have merit.

“This is true of a lot of things,” Mr. Bloomberg said after accusing
an unrelated City Council bill of having unintended side-effects. “You
asked before about the magazines in Albany. We just got to start
to thinking a little bit more about the implications of things before
we rush to legislate and rush to legislate everything.”

Mr. Bloomberg said allowing additional time to read legislation could
have helped avoid this sort of sticky situation, but maintained his
“100 percent” support for Mr. Cuomo’s efforts on the gun issue overall.

Can the Democratic Party's next presidential nominee be a candidate
who favors the death penalty, opposes marijuana decriminalization,
objects to driver's licenses for undocumented immigrations, calls for a
pathway to legal status over citizenship, and gets beat on a
marriage-equality endorsement by Republican Senator Rob Portman?

Hillary Clinton could soon find out.

Clinton's
statement in support of same-sex marriage this week — made by way of a
five-minute, direct-to-camera video explicating the ways in which her
personal views on the issue have been "shaped over time" — was a sure
sign that the potential presidential candidate is still in the game and
ready to revisit a campaign platform that has been all but frozen in
amber since she left the political stage for the State Department four
years ago. Keep on reading...

The nationwide shortage of ammunition has left many
police departments scrambling to get their hands on the necessary rounds
– with some even bartering among each other.
Meanwhile, Rep. Timothy Huelskamp (R-Kansas) says the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to respond to multiple members of
Congress asking why DHS bought more than 1.6 billion rounds in the past
year.

Police Chief Cameron Arthur of Jenks, Oklahoma says,
“Ammunition and assault weapons in general have skyrocketed…In addition
to the fact, not only is it a lot more expensive, but the time to get
it could be six months to a year, or in some cases even longer.”

Arthur says he is waiting on an order placed last October and that
many departments have begun to trade and barter with each other because
of the high demand.

“Most police departments are having a very difficult time even
getting the necessary ammunition for handguns, shotguns and especially
rifles,” Arthur said.

“With the delay in ammunition, some departments are limiting the
number of rounds they carry in their handgun because of the shortage of
ammunition. We get to the point where it is difficult to have enough
ammo to train and also equip the officers.”

A state representative in Massachussetts is being
investigated after allegedly sending pictures of his genitals to a
government computer.

The investigation is ongoing and the committee has not formally
reprimanded the individual in charge, but it is being widely reported
that Democratic State Representative John Fresolo is the one behind the
scandal.

He allegedly sent ‘lascivious photos of his privates’ to a
computer at the State House, and an aide complained to the Ethics
Committee to start the investigation.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo has not confirmed any accusations in
the case except that he did say there was ‘sufficient cause’ for an
investigation.

‘In order to protect the integrity of the Ethics Committee
investigation, Speaker DeLeo will have no further comment on this
matter,’ spokesman Seth Gitell said.

Local blogs and radio hosts have taken the case further, saying that it was definitely Fresolo who sent the salacious pictures.

Though he was curt and dismissive when a reporter from The Republican newspaper called him, he did not deny the claims.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Health insurers are privately warning brokers that
premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase
sharply next year because of the health-care overhaul law, with the
nation’s biggest firm projecting that rates could more than double for some consumers buying their own plans.

The projections, made in sessions with brokers and agents, provide
some of the most concrete evidence yet of how much insurance companies
might increase prices when major provisions of the law kick in next
year—a subject of rigorous debate.[...]

The individual market includes about 15 million people,
and around 18% of the roughly 149 million with employer coverage were at
small companies, according to 2011 figures from the Kaiser Family
Foundation. The individual market is expected to grow to around 35
million people by 2016 as a result of the law.

In a private presentation to brokers late last month, UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation’s largest carrier, said premiums for some consumers buying their own plans could go up as much as 116%, and small-business rates as much as 25% to 50%.
The company said the estimates were driven in part by growing medical
costs not directly tied to the law. It also cited the law’s requirements
that health status not affect rates and that plans include certain
minimum benefits and limits to out-of-pocket charges, among other
things.

Over one-third of the 9.1 million full-time
jobs among America's diverse business franchises could be cut back or
eliminated by Obamacare as small businesses struggle to maintain
profitability while coughing up money to pay for Washington-mandated
health care coverage, according to the International Franchise
Association.

The threat of hitting 3.2 million full-time
workers as the Affordable Care Act takes effect next year is prompting
the owners of fast food restaurants, service companies and other
franchises to urge Congress to make significant changes in Obamacare.

To help their cause, the association on Friday released a new state-by-state breakdown
on the potential impact on jobs in the bull's eye of Obamacare, which
declares that a 30-hour week is full-time, not the industry accepted 40
hours. That 10-hour difference has thousands of franchise owners
scrambling to either fund healthcare for those working 30 hours, or cut
hours back to below 30 hours. Keep on reading...